Busy Weekend!

Somehow we've gotten back into the habit of booking our weekends up to the point of being jam-packed.

Friday was the usual trip to Fullerton for Improv Shmimprov; it was a good game, my first time seeing new Shmimprover Jason Booth. He's a pretty funny guy, and I'm glad he made it onto the team.

Saturday was game night with Alayne, Chris, Jill, and the Hollands (and all of our kids were there of course). Oh my goodness do I love Killer Bunnies! I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get to unleash the chaos and anarchy of the Mystery Urn, but we're all old folks now and it was after 10 pm when I drew it, and I had the choice to either end the game or play the Urn...I thought Alayne might shoot me if I played it, so I chose to end the game (didn't win though...James had the magic carrot).

And Sunday was a trip to the Getty Villa to get Aurora some culture! It was my first trip to the Villa, and I must say, I am a fan! I love Greek and Roman history and mythology (for the out of staters in the audience, the Getty Villa is museum set on J. Paul Getty's property in Malibu, and it's a replica of a Roman villa that was destroyed by Mt. Vesuvius, and the whole museum is dedicated to Greek and Roman antiquities). We took a couple of tours, got to see the Getty Bronze (originally named Victorious Youth), learned how bronze statues were made in ancient Rome and Greece, and wander around a replica of a Roman garden. I had to miss the first bit of both tours due to having to feed the baby, so I think I'd like to do the tours again in the future. There's also some other tours that look like a lot of fun, like the family tour for kids; I'd like to do that one with Aurora when she gets a little older.

So it was a very packed, but very fun-filled weekend. And tomorrow starts the planning and preparation for Thanksgiving for 9 at our house. So excited! And in the spirit of the time of year, I am thankful to have a wonderful, loving family and circle of friends who I care about very much and would do anything for.

I may not get a chance to blog again until after the holiday, so Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Kids

It's kind of weird the unexpected things that kids wind up attaching to. I have played dozens of songs and lullabies to Aurora, and she seems to enjoy my off-key warbling (much to my surprise), but it's always taken at least three or four songs before she really responds to it. She doesn't actually fuss a whole lot, but she has her moments, particularly in the car. She doesn't really like to be put in her carseat, and she's generally still fussing and crying a bit by the time we get in the car. I happened to put a Dancehall Crashers cd in the player in the car a few weeks ago, and noticed that she really liked one song in particular. Scott thought it might have been the acoustic guitar, but she doesn't respond and calm down until the lyrics start, so I don't know if it's the girl's singing, my singing along with it, or the guitar playing, but this song will calm her down every time it's played. So I'm expecting I'll be listening to it a lot over the next few months, unless she decides to change it up a bit. At least it's a song I liked to begin with :)

Gallstone update 1

I had an appointment with my GP this morning about my gallstones, to figure out what the best course of treatment is. I really like my doctor. If you're looking for a General Practitioner in the OC area, I can highly recommend Dr. Aguilar. She's a bit of a hippie, but she's great. She prefers trying a natural approach instead of turning straight to pills, she talks to you and explains everything really well, and most importantly, she listens to your questions and concerns.

We talked about what the options are, and we agreed that the best option is surgery, since it's the only treatment that's permanent. I was concerned with the fact that Aurora's still so young, and I'm still breastfeeding. She said that for right now, since the ultrasound and labwork don't indicate any infection or inflammation, it's not affecting my pancreas, and it's not causing constant pain, it's something that I can wait for a bit on. Her suggestion was to consult with the surgeon that she referred me to, and to wait until the baby's at least 6 months old. That way, she's old enough that she can interact with other people and she's not quite so dependent on me.

So now I have to make an appointment for a consult with the surgeon.

And then I'll be more than the "Spleenless Wonder", I'll just be generically the "Organless Wonder".

Rather Inane...

In the interest of getting back in the habit of blogging regularly, I thought I'd post something that I'm sure everyone reading this has already seen, but is one of my favorite videos ever. Legos are awesome, Eddie Izzard is awesome, and when you put them together they create a level of awesome that is rarely seen in the world today.

This One's for Victoria

Yesterday I forgot that I wanted to post a recipe, and as with a disturbing number of my regular recipes, this one has a story behind it.

A few months ago, Scott and I had a BBQ with some friends, including some of Scott's coworkers. I made some potato salad, but I didn't use a recipe or write down what I put in it. It was a hit, which is great, but I didn't think about it again until a couple weeks later when one of Scott's coworkers said that her fiance had really loved it and wanted her to get the recipe from me. Well, crap. I didn't have any recollection at all as to what I put in it. I actually dedicated quite a bit of thought to remembering everything I'd thrown in, and I think I've pretty well replicated it, so here's the recipe for anyone interested:

8 medium-sized Russet potatoes
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup dill relish
6 dill pickle spears, cut into chunks
2 small cans sliced olives
1/8 cup yellow mustard
1/8 cup spicy brown mustard

Boil the potatoes until they're well done, and then cool completely and cut into approx. 1/2-inch chunks. Add the rest of the ingredients, and stir to incorporate.


I'm not sure it's exactly the same, but as far as I recall it's pretty close. Enjoy!

Neglect...

I know. I've neglected the blog. But I have some good reasons. Honest. For one, there's been the whole "having a baby" thing, but it was a little more than that.

The last couple months of my pregnancy, I was extremely uncomfortable and more than a little pissy, and I felt like if I tried blogging I was going to wind up complaining about stuff, and that the complaining would take over the blog and I would come across as little more than a pathetic, whiny, pain in the ass who nobody wanted to read about. That's not who I really am, that's not how I really feel about myself, and it's not the vibe that I wanted to put out. I'm a fan of the idea of having people read this blog, and doing nothing but complaining about how I feel isn't the way to get readership. So I stopped writing for awhile, and I'm glad I did.

I've been meaning to start writing again, because I actually have worthwhile stuff to say again. So, here I go with my first post-baby blog:

I am sooo loving being a mom! Aurora can be a handful sometimes, but for the most part she is a fantastic baby. She sleeps at night really well, hardly cries, and loves to be around people. We're settling into a pretty standard routine; feeding and cuddle time after Scott leaves for work, I get her dressed and get my shower while she sleeps, then after feeding her again we go out for our morning walk. Thanks to those walks, I'm almost down to my pre-pregnancy weight again, and I'm already fitting in my pre-pregnancy clothes (which I'm super happy about)! She's up and about and playful when Scott gets home, and generally is asleep by about 9 or 10 in the evening. I really only have to wake up once during the night to feed her, and by the time she needs to be fed again I'm getting up to make lunch for Scott. Overall, she's a great baby.

So that's what's going on in my world. I know I've said it before, but I'm going to start blogging more regularly. I won't promise a blog every day, but I'll work on getting one out at least once a week. See you later!